Goodyear's Aerial TV Coverage Goes for the Gold

February 15, 2010

Company continues long tradition of providing aerial coverage of the Olympic Games.

AKRON, Ohio, February 15, 2010 – Viewers of the winter Olympic Games from Vancouver, British Columbia, will see some spectacular aerial views of the event brought to them by Goodyear, but may not know Goodyear provided its first Olympic coverage almost 88 years ago.

In 1932, the Goodyear blimp Volunteer gave a local radio station a bird’s-eye view of the summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles – starting the first of nine Olympics in which the company would coordinate the aerial views.

“Goodyear works at the request of the networks and has supported the Olympic Games in Los Angeles twice, Lillehammer, Atlanta, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Turin, Beijing and now Vancouver,” said Sara Waldman, Goodyear’s airship public relations manager. “We’ve used our famous blimps, planes, helicopters and tethered aerostats to provide the aerial views.”

Goodyear has used a variety of aerial camera platforms due to the challenges and limitations of Olympic Winter Games in mountainous regions with heavy snow and ice, explained Waldman.

Goodyear’s coverage of the Vancouver games is being provided by an airplane and a helicopter equipped with high-definition cameras and working with the production teams at the various venues around Vancouver.

For more than 50 years, Goodyear’s blimps have provided aerial coverage of the most watched sports, entertainment and news events around the world.

The partial list of events covered by the Goodyear blimps includes the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, and championships for NASCAR, the PGA, World Cup Soccer, the America’s Cup, Grand Slam Tennis, Triple Crown horse races and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs nearly 70,000 people and manufactures its products in 59 facilities in 24 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.